News

Banterra honored ten Banterra-SIU Scholarship winners recently at athletic events. As part of Banterra's partnership with SIU, a minimum of $50,000 from the Banterra-SIU Saluki Visa® Debit Card revenue is dedicated to this
scholarship program and distributed evenly between ten students (five athletes and five non-athletes). The athletic recipients
were recognized during "Banterra Night" at the SIU Saluki Men's Basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 18th and non-athlete recipients were recognized at the Saluki Football game on Saturday, Sept. 21st, 2024. Recipients are required to have a GPA of 3.25, have hometowns within Banterra's footprint and submit a paper on what they love about Southern Illinois, why they chose SIU and their overall experience as a Saluki.

The 2024-25 athletic recipients are Emma Austin (Softball) from Brookport, Illinois, Ansley Bailey (Women's Cross Country) from Metropolis, Illinois, Justin Keuss (Baseball) from Saint Louis, Missouri, Hunter Simmons (Football) from Mt. Vernon, Illinois and Jaden Smith (Men's Track) from Carterville, Illinois. Austin, Bailey and Keuss joined Banterra's President and CEO Jeff May, Chief Banking Officer Kristina Scott, Senior Banker Shane Carsrud and Commercial Officer Mike Lewallen on the court for a check presentation.

The 2024-25 academic recipients are Grant Biby, Michael Chebuske, Destiny Green, Landon Geyman and Olivia Larrison. Biby is from Pinckneyville, Illinois, Chebuske is from Saint Louis, Missouri, Green is from Marion, Illinois, Geyman is from Tunnel Hill, Illinois and Larrison is from Metropolis, Illinois. Biby, Green, and Larrison were able to join Banterra's President and CEO Jeff May, Chief Banking Officer Kristina Scott, Market Executive Jeff Speith and Regional Manager Amber Pentecost for a check presentation during halftime of the SIU vs. SEMO football game in September.
"Supporting the education and athletic opportunities at SIU is important to the Southern Illinois region and to our company" said Jeff May, President & CEO of Banterra Bank. "Banterra is proud to do that in multiple ways, including our naming-rights agreement, NIL efforts, financial literacy, workforce initiatives and providing annual scholarships through our Banterra-SIU Saluki Visa Debit Card."

Banterra became the first corporate naming-rights partner for a SIU athletic facility in 2019, entering a multi-million-dollar agreement to rebrand SIU Arena to Banterra Center. In 2024, Banterra expanded their partnership to include a NIL fund to support Saluki Athletics. Banterra offers two Saluki accounts, Banterra Saluki Student Checking and Banterra Saluki Interest Checking, along with a Banterra-SIU Saluki Visa Debit Card which has no Banterra ATM fees at more than 35 Banterra ATMs and 55,000 ATMs in the Allpoint network. Banterra also has an on-campus ATM located in the SIU Student Center.
ABOUT BANTERRA BANK

Banterra Bank, which celebrates its 5Qlh anniversary this year, began as a single bank in Ridgway, Illinois in July of 1975. Today, Banterra has more than $3 billion in assets and is ranked in the Top Eight Percent of U.S. Charter Banks and Top Five Percent for Illinois Charter Banks according to asset size. Banterra has 40 locations in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Utah. In addition to offering a variety of personal and business banking products, Banterra provides services nationwide through specialty lending including Aircraft Finance, Machine Tool Finance, RV and Marine Lending as well as specific regional lending for Agriculture and Healthcare industry needs. Banterra also offers Banterra Insurance and Investment services. For more information, call 866-BANTERRA (226-8377), or go to www.banterra.bank.
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